Mar 17, 2023 5 min read

There was panic on Monday among Steelers fans when it was announced cornerback Cam Sutton was going to sign a free agent deal with the Detroit Lions.

The sky was falling.

To hear or read what some were saying, the Steelers had just lost the second coming of Rod Woodson.

To be fair, Sutton has been a good player for the Steelers. But great? Not exactly.

A few hours later, the Steelers agreed to terms with cornerback Patrick Peterson.

Now, Peterson will be 33 in July. Sutton is 28.

But it’s inarguable that he hasn’t been the better player over the course of his career than Sutton.

And even last season, Peterson with his 15 pass defenses and five interceptions, was the better player.

The Steelers weren’t done signing people, either.

They also added guard Nate Herbig from the Jets and linebacker Cole Holcomb from the Commanders while re-signing defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi and safety Damontae Kazee.

These aren’t your father’s Steelers any longer.

It used to be that the Steelers often waited out the first wave of free agency, sifting through the wreckage of the remaining scraps to sign a bargain or two once the smoke had cleared.

The past two years, they’ve been more proactive in the initial flood of free agency, signing the likes of Peterson, Herbig and Holcomb this season and guard James Daniels, center Mason Cole and linebacker Myles Jack in the opening week of free agency last year.

Now, they didn’t break the bank for any of those players. They instead stuck to their guns, paid within their budget and added good players.

Would it have been nice to keep Sutton, a 2017 draft pick who had developed into a solid cornerback? Sure.

But it didn’t make sense to do so at $11 million per season, which is what his contract with the Lions averaged.

Had they done that instead of signing Peterson – a potential future Hall of Fame player – to a two-year, $14-million deal, they wouldn’t have been able to afford Herbig and/or Holcomb.

Building a roster takes planning. And you have to stick to the plan.

• Many of the same people complaining about the Steelers losing Sutton were the same ones who complain the Steelers should never draft cornerbacks because they can’t identify or develop them.

Which is it? Sutton can’t be a good cornerback if the Steelers can’t identify or develop cornerbacks.

• None of the moves the Steelers have made in free agency will preclude them from taking a player at those positions in the NFL Draft.

Part of the genius of their signings the past two seasons is that they’ve all been two- or three-year deals.

That’s become the norm now in the NFL.

Instead of being locked into a player for four or five years, these deals are largely built as one-year deals with an option for the second and third seasons. They’re easy to get out of if things don’t work out.

But they’re also good for the players in that instead of signing a longer-term deal, they can sign for two years with a more modest signing bonus, but get another deal a couple of years later with another signing bonus.

And, in the meantime, if you draft a player at the new guy’s position, you don’t have to play the rookie right away because you’ve got a veteran in his place. But once the young player is ready, there’s not a big monetary blockage keeping him out of the lineup.

• We’ve already seen a number of times in Spring Training where a batter has been called out for not being in the batter’s box at the prescribed time per Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock.

What will be interesting is the first time something like that happens when it costs someone a game?

I’m all for speeding up the game. And the between-pitch gyrations of both pitchers and hitters that slowed the game down have gone beyond ridiculous.

I’m just not sure that adding the time clock to a game that has never worked within the confines or time is the way to handle it.

• The Founders League, from which the Washington County team for the Pony World Series is selected, will include 15 teams this season, 6 from Washington Youth Baseball, 4 from Canon-McMillan Youth Baseball, two from Fort Cherry and one each from Burgettstown, Avella and Chartiers-Houston, .

It’s a far different situation than it was less than 10 years ago when the team was picked from four or five Washington Youth Baseball teams.